Road to Ironman: Jay Blog 9

It’s easier to follow your ego than it is to follow the plan. It’s easier to say something was easy than it is to admit to your struggles. It’s easier to build yourself up with a false sense of security than to face the fact that you might not be the expert you once believed.

What the fuck does this have to do with Ironman 70.3? It’s really fucking hard to swallow my pride and stick to the plan that’s what. I made a decision to stop going off what I believe and follow what experts tell you is easy/moderate/hard. It’s all based off heart rate. Heart rate doesn’t give a flying fuck about my ego.

I was one of those guys that thought running a nine minute mile was “easy” and I wasn’t really straining myself. My whoop had to be wrong on my strain. I wasn’t winded at all. I believed “no pain, no gain” and it’s a workout, it should hurt. Heart rate, doesn’t give a fuck about my ego.

The first day I tracked my heart rate on my run, I was twelve and a half minutes to stay under my “moderate” heart rate. That’s not easy to hear. It’s easier to just ignore it just like I did with the whoop. Fuck it, go fast and I’ll be fine.

Today on my triathlon (800 swim, 28 bike, 5k) I got a little above my targeted heart rate on both bike and run but it was still fairly close. I battled the entire time and this is where the blog came from. I kept saying the mantra, “it’s easier to just fucking go and ignore the truth, it’s harder to fucking follow the plan” and it helped keep me in check.

In reality, I finished the run, kissed my wife shot the shit with Cory Lunsford and a guy visiting from Jacksonville, FL (who swam in junior high while I was a senior) and will go about my day. It’s a lot fucking harder to follow the plan, but I’m not struggling to live my life.